Food product and process of preparing same



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- RALPH CROCKER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

no Drawing. Application filed May" 26,

y Processes of Preparing Same,.of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in cooked food products and processes. More particularly it relates to packing eggs. Lan object of the invention to provide 1 for the preservation of the food values in eggs them,

by the seasonal cooking and canning of thereby dispensing with the cost of cold storage, or of other methods of reservation, of eggs in the shell. So far as I am aware no one has heretofore been able to can eggs. successfully on a commercial scale, if at all. Attempts to pack dried eggs and hard boiled eggs have resulted after a few months in the yolks separating and deteriorating' into something resemblin sulfur and molasses. It is an object of t e invention to avoid this unpleasant result with such certainty that the packing of eggs can be made a commercial industry in which the product shall fkee'tp1 in acceptable condition for long and inde nite periods of time. It is another object to provide for the packlng of meat orother food in redients, {such as fruit, oysters, fish, vegetab es, with eggs. -It

i is still a'further object of the invention to provide an increased market for the residue of milk, remaining afterits fats have been separated in the form of cream. Other ob- ,jects are to solve the practical problem of i combining these food ingredients, or some of them, in such pleasing manner thatthe pack .40

age 11 on being opened is v found attractive with t e meat or other solid ingredient Well distributed through the mass.

Theinventionalso includes the PIOVISIODH of a new process forthe preparation of food products, by which: rocess the various 1ngrcdients' to which t e invention is applicable can be put together andlpre'served in such manner as to make the novel food prod. not in its various-forms. It iisalso the object'of the invention. to provide the other advantages herein disclosed. It is intended thatthe patent shall cover, by sultable ex pression in the appended cla1ms,. wh atever features of 'patentablenovelty exist 1n the invention disclosed. I r

Onefeature of the invention is the tak- It ismilk, and a small FOOD PRODUCT AND PROCESS OI PREPARING SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 19, 1921,,

1919. Serial li'o. 299,897.

tributed through the product, in which the difficulty arises from'the fact that u on introduction the meat tends to settle t rou h the llquid composed of the egg and the mifir. Another feature is the use of direct steam contact for the early cooking process.

The. method may begin, b thoroughly beating the yolk and mixing t e same thoroughly with milk, which may be skimmed portion of flour. The mixture 1s then poured into shallow pans. If-a particularly artistic effect is desired these may be of the 'shape and size of the tin 1n which the product is ultimately to be sealed, and marketed. of any of a wide variety of shapes. The partly filled pans are preferably adapted. to

wherein their open tops admit live steam to Obviously it may be the contents of the pan. A partial cooking 7 occurs, changing the mixture from liquid to solid or colloidal form. Upon removal of the pans from the steam slices of meat .laid on the colloidal mixture will not sink.

The meat being then so distributed over the surface, the remainder of mixture for the particular and the whole is then the milk and egg can is poured on submitted to antop 'ot er and similar live steam exposure.

Becoming then a mass havin definitely the shape and size of the can w ich is ultimately to contain it, the contents of this pan, WlllGll has served as a mold, may be tipped out into deep fat and fried, producing an external browning. like an omelet, after which the mass may be put into its can, subjected to a suitable sterilizing and sealing process, and marketed.

f The time and temperature of the steriliz-- ing and processing may vary according to the materials which are being canned, as is already understood in the art, the egg being timed like meat. a

.An illustrative example, showin another form of the method is as follows. he mass solidly, and the '24 square and 1" deep.

.grade, appetizing and of beaten egg and milk and flour having been made ready, and it being assumed that meat, such as dried beef, is to be packed with the egg and milk, a thin layer, for example 9 thick, of this meat'is spread over the bottom of pans which may, for example, be And into this milk liquid mixture is poured, deep enough Ito cover the meat. These pans are then subjected to steam heat or other source of high temperature for a few minutes, at a temperature suflicient to cook and to solidify the liquid, which may be at or a little above the boiling point of water. The solidified mass of eggs, milk layer the egg and and meat is then dumped out of the pans,

or may be scooped out, and is put through a stuffing machine. If desired, it may first go through a coarse cutting machine, but this will ordinarily be unnecessary. The stuffing machine presses the material into the can in which it is to be marketed, incidentally destroying its pan-shaped formation; so that the broken but soft and yielding fragments of the mixture fill the can layer formation which characterized this material in the pan is entirely destroyed, but with the colloidal combination holding the meat particles separate from each other and at all degrees of elevation in the can. The-can may then be sealed, sterilized and processed, according to the usual or any suitable process.

The egg package may have other food products as its filler, such as fruits, or the flesh of fowl, or fish, or it may have vegetable-products. In'case the second method is adopted, and the package is made without frying of the contents, or made by the first method without frying, said contents may nevertheless be ready for being eaten without further cooking. Whether fried or unfried, they constitute a thoroughly high tasty, nutritious food product. The form which avoids frying is preferred both because of economy, and because the tender characteristic of the smoked or dried beef or fish which may be used is not destroyed as it is in domestic usage by the frying process. As a matter of fact it has been observed that the process renders smoked or dried meat more tender than it was when it was introduced.

If fresh meat, fruit or vegetable is used it should first be cooked, before introduction to the egg and milk mixture. This partially breaks down its internal structure, shrinks it, and prevents the occurrence of material further shrinkage after it final can. l

The process is applicable with especial value in those regions of the country and at that season. of year at which fresh. eggsare produced in greatest abundance. The process does away with all loss and danger of is in the breakage of the eggs in shipment; and the cost of and loss in freezing, Or other storage method of keeping them fresh. It puts them into a form in which they can be kept indefinitely, to wit, the convenient and well known tin can form, regardless of problems of refrigeration, or of breakage, or of keeping them immersed in liquids; and at the same time, by handling them in large quantities, it accomplishes economically the ultimate cooking which could otherwise have to be done more wastefully under domestic conditions, this being accomplished as part of the process of preservation.

While the cooking is best carried out by direct heat from steam applied to the open top and to the sides and bottom of a shallow pan, in which case the solidification occurs with great speed,'in a very few minutes, owing to the shallowness of the layers of material, to the approach of heat from both sides of this thin layer, and with great precision owing to the perfect control of temperature obtainable with saturated steam at close to atmospheric pressure, nevertheless the process can be carried out by other methods of heating. Perhaps thenext best is by heat from a steam jacket around a metal container,commonly called asteam kettle; but as such a container is usually relatively deep it is desirable to provide a mechanical stirring of the contents, in order to get and maintain the proper distribution of the meat through the egg and milk mass, as it is coagulating, and until it coagulates. For this reason, as well as for other reasons, the simple process of pouring the material into shallow pans and running it through a chamber in which it is exposed to live steam, with the meat meanwhile restin on the bottom of the container, is preferred; and the proper distribution throughout the can in this case .is then made by the subse ueut breaking up and re-arrangement of ragand also its contained casein is an addition of definite food value.

Use of a very small portion of flour is preferable, for which purpose potato flour is advantageously used, because it will absorb more moisture than wheat flour. Such a flour contributes to the production of the colloidal stage by absorbing moisture. It 'is'not essential. Its effect is to reduce the amount of shrinkage, to make the )roduct less .watery, and to make it solidi y more quickly. For commercial purposes it is hi hly desirable to use the flour.

- he proportions of milk and eggs may possible,

, molasses.

pound of the eggs and milk mixture. If. de-

sired to make the product as largely egg as the proportion of milk stated may be greatly reduced, only enough being used to prevent the above described disintegration into products resembling sulfur and The process may be simplified further by beaten mixture directly into the can which is to beits final package, and processing it therein. In that case however the pleasing broken-up and coarsely-granular aspect of the product,

seen upon opening thecan and attained by first solidifying the material in a shallow pan and then breaking it up for packing in a deep can, is not obtained. The processing should be combined for such length of time, and at'such temperature as is necessary for the ingredient therein which requires the most of such.

If desired, spices or other ingredients may be included in the mixture.

In its physical state herein described as colloidal the product is neither definitely liquid norrigidly solid. It is firm enough to hold its shape and to su port solid particleswithin it, yet is jellyike and readily broken into fragments, somewhat resembling what is known in domestic usage as scrambled eggs. It however has the quality :of reslsting the tendency'to dissolution which has been manifest with lapse of time, with eggs as heretofore packed.

I claim as my invention 1. A method of preparing and preserving eggs for market, comprising thoroughly beating eggs With milk; subjecting the mixture in layer form to steam making direct contact with its surface; sealing in cans and sterilizing.

2. A method of preparing and preserving food for market, comprising thoroughly beating eggswith milk, arranging a solid food ingredient on a support; pouring some of the egg and milk mixture upon said solid food and its support, thereby inclosing the solid food; and causing th mixture thus poured to become colloidal and thus to fix the relative positions of parts of the solid ingredient; and sealing and. sterilizing the whole incans.

3. A method of preparing and preserving eggs for market, comprising thoroughly beating eggs with milk; cooking the mireture by steam, at approximately the tern-- perature of the steam; and sealing and sterilizing in cans.

4. A new article of manufacture consistingof an hermetically sealed can of colloidal egg-and-milk food product.

5. A new article of manufacture consisting of an hermetically sealed can of colloidal egg and milk food containing a small Huantity of the product resulting from the issemination, prior to the colloidal formation, of a relatively very small quantity of flour disseminated throughout its mass.

Signed at Boston, Massachusetts, this 17th day of May, 1919.

RALPH w. GROCKER. 

